Table of contents for Christian Liberty

1. Christian Liberty
2. The Two Brothers
3. The Stumbling Block
4. A Brother Caught in Sin

Lastly, is the idea of a “Stumbling Block”.  In the case of Romans 14, this is talking about a Stronger Brother who exercises his liberties, and in the process causes the Weaker Brother to stumble.

The prohibitions mentioned in Romans 14 could lead people to believe that the Stronger Brother has no option but to live like a weaker brother.  Take a look:

But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

…

It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.  Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.  And he that doubteth is [dang]ed if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.  – Romans 14:15, 21-23

If you took the first part without the second you could certainly get that impression.  However, it’s the second section I think is worth our attention.

Don’t Cause Your Brother to Stumble

Paul instructs us that it is important for us not to do things that would cause a brother to stumble into sin.  This would include things that are doctrinally wrong as well as things that he has a personal conviction about.

However, if I don’t know that you have a conviction against coffee because it has a drug in it (caffeine) and you believe that you shouldn’t ingest it because your body is a temple to the living God and that would be sin for you—if you don’t tell me this and I offer you coffee, am I causing you to stumble?

If you don’t have a problem resisting the temptation, and you aren’t judging your brother, I don’t think that there’s any problem with the Stronger Brother drinking coffee.

However, if you entered my house and told me that you don’t drink coffee because it’s against what you read in God’s Word and you’ve been working to give it up, and I open up a can of coffee in front of you and proceed to drink it, not only am I inconsiderate, but I’m doing something that could cause you to sin.

Paul says that it’s better to do things in the privacy of your home before God than to destroy a brother because of your liberty.

How Far Does This Go?

Again, I mentioned that some take these passages as believing that it places so many restrictions on the Stronger Brother as to make him into the Weaker Brother.  For if there’s someone, somewhere that could be tempted to sin because of a given thing, then the Stronger Brother shouldn’t do it, right?

I don’t believe that’s what this passage is saying.  I think there’s room here for common sense.  I think that you can drink coffee in the privacy of your home or in public without having to look for Julie from church that might be in the restaurant and has trouble with coffee.

I think that you can respect any day of the week you want, or not respect a day, without looking around for Joe from church that wants you not to do anything on Saturday, since it was the day God rested.

And this extends to topics like modesty.  If we begin to apply “do not cause your brother to stumble” we’d have to figure out whether there are single guys around that would be attracted to you if you wore anything but a big shapeless sack.  The location and the expectations need to be set.

We don’t want people to stumble.  It’s not worth it—whether that means we dress more conservatively, skip the coffee, or don’t go out on Saturday—to cause someone to go into sin.  At the same time, it’s important for the Weaker Brother to know why he stands on what he stands, and to get to the point that regardless of what happens around him he will not fall.

The responsibility, and the liberty, goes both ways in my opinion.

What do you think?

Table of contents for Christian Liberty

1. Christian Liberty
2. The Two Brothers
3. The Stumbling Block
4. A Brother Caught in Sin

There are two brothers mentioned in Romans 14—and they are referred to with terms of strength.  One is called the stronger brother, and the other the weaker.

The Stronger Brother

The Stronger Brother takes on two different types of individuals.

The first individual is the one that stands firm on his understanding of the Bible and feels free to partake in those things that were previously forbidden—and does so to the glory of God.  This is the man (or woman) that could eat the meat offered to idols, because there were no such things as idols and the meat was 50% the price he could get at the local WalMart.  His conscience did not bother him about it, and he had a right relationship to the Lord.

The second individual is one that believed that he could eat the meat offered to idols, but he used to go to that temple before he came to Christ, and if he went to the marketplace he might be tempted to return to that lifestyle.  This person chooses not to do something he knows he lawfully can do, but does so because it’s best for his walk—and in that also gives God the glory.

The Stronger Brother has to make sure that his liberty does not pose an opportunity to stumble for the weaker brother.  He also has to be careful not to let his “good be evil spoken of”—meaning that his liberty should not cause problems for other believers.

We’ll cover the whole concept of being a stumbling block in the next post, but the second admonition is something I’ve seen happening on the Internet a lot.  There are many people that have left one church or another for different reasons, and have started labeling the church they left as wrong—for many different reasons.

If it’s not a doctrinal issue, then those that consider themselves strong should not be disparaging those that are weaker.  As long as believers are trying to give God thanks through their actions, we should refrain from judgment.

The Weaker Brother

The Weaker Brother is pretty straightforward.  For him, he understands the Bible to be dogmatic on things of questionable nature.  He believes that he should still respect the holy days, and he won’t go anywhere near the temple.

The Weaker Brother needs to be careful not to judge the Stronger Brother.  It’s tempting for both to want to apply what they believe to someone else, and when that person does not measure up, to use that person or that person’s beliefs as a rallying point for “the one true religion.”

The fact is, Paul is stating that the only things that are definitely agreed upon in the Christian life are the doctrine taught directly and the Bible, and that we will have differences in what we believe.  Some will believe that they should not have Christian Contemporary Music in their services, and others will believe that they can.  Instead of judging each other, we should seek out those services where we can give God thanks.